Divine honors for John Idler, Alison Pure-Slovin

Chicago’s Italian community comes together once a year to celebrate culture and honor big names in media and the civic scenes. This year, it’s John Idler, president and general manager of ABC 7 Chicago, and Alison Pure-Slovin, Midwest director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, who will be feted.

The annual luncheon to be held this afternoon is organized by the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans and named after Dante Alighieri, the famed poet and philosopher of the Middle Ages who wrote “Divine Comedy.”

Idler will receive the Dante Award for living up to Alighieri’s call “to be no timid friend to truth,” according to organizers promoting the event. Pure-Slovin will be honored for showing “extraordinary skills in the world of public affairs.”

Idler is credited with helping bring Cubs games to ABC 7. The station is expanded its Cubs coverage this year by adding the World Series Ring Ceremony to its broadcast line-up.

“Past recipients loom large in this city, so I’m both proud and grateful to be recognized with this distinguished honor,” Idler said in a release. Among previous honorees: media strategist Thom Serafin.

Pure-Slovin has been the director of the Midwest region of the Simon Wiesenthal Center for nearly five years. In 2015 she was appointed by Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner to the Holocaust and Genocide Commission—a group that provides guidance on Holocaust and genocide education and commemoration across the state. Pure-Slovin was also the first female president of the Standard Club, a 150 year-old private club that counts some of Chicago’s most notable civic leaders as members.

Shia Kapos writes about people in power and position.
She's been published in People magazine, New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune and Crain's Business, where she became a popular scoops and society columnist.
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